Category: Business & Markets

The U.S. expanded at a 2.6% annual pace in fourth quarter, extending one of the best stretches of growth during the current eight-and-a-half-year-old upturn. GDP fell short of the 3% forecast, however, owing to lower inventory production and a bigger trade deficit. Consumer spending, the main engine of the economy, rose a strong 3.8%, the

President Donald Trump expects the U.S. economy to continue powering ahead in coming years, saying economic growth is likely to be higher than what most economists currently expect. In an interview aired Friday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump was asked about forecasts that the U.S. economy would expand around 3% in the

Initial U.S. jobless claims rose by 13,000 to 233,000 in the seven days ended Jan. 20. below the 240,000 forecast of economists. The more stable monthly average of claims fell by 3,500 to 240,000, the government said Thursday.

Existing-home sales were at a 5.57 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Sales of previously-owned homes tumbled in December as an ongoing inventory crunch worsened. Existing-home sales were down 3.6% for the month, though they were up 1.1% compared to a year ago. NAR said November’s selling

The federal government stopped operating at midnight Friday heading into Saturday, halting all but essential services, after the Senate came 10 votes short of reaching a temporary, last-minute funding deal that would have kept the government open through February 16. The shutdown comes on the anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration, and with the GOP in

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell in January to a reading of 94.4, the worst reading since July. Economists polled expected a 98 reading. Confidence has increased substantially since the recession, though it’s still below levels of the internet bubble era.

An extended bout of low prices and tepid wage growth are showing signs of ending and that has government-bond investors bracing for a new inflation regime. Rising inflation is anathema to bonds because it can erode the security’s fixed value, which is a notable headwind for longer-dated government paper. Contributing to the anticipation of higher

John Williams, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, is being considered by the White House to become vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. That would put him in the No. 2 position behind new Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The Journal reported that other candidates for